New Jersey Journalism & News Copywriting Service

$700 Billion Bailout?

October 4, 2008

by Jamie Jones

The proposed $700 billion bailout of fallen Wall Street banks has sent waves of fearful speculation and adamant opposition throughout not only the halls of Congress, but throughout our nation as a whole. And rightly it should. The bailout is a serious matter for the future success of our nation's economic health and our individual well-being.

Very often the collapse of a great empire begins with the gradual erosion of its economic health. Therefore, one can understand the Feds urgency in fixing the problem that has led to our current state.

But haste never made anything but waste. We all want to know what effects - both positive and negative - such a whopping $700 billion bailout of some of the world's biggest investment banks will have on each our lives. And until our leaders are pretty sure that such a bailout with help more than it will hurt, we say: keep deliberating.

Bracing for the Shock

No doubt such drastic aid to failing banks will produce shocking - as I Ching hexagram #51 portends. But interestingly, Shocking is preceded by #13, Fellowship Among Men. At least on the surface, it appears that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are trying to solidify such a fellowship through guiding Congress in passing the bailout bill.

And it's also likely that Bernanke's and Paulson's bailout efforts are being construed by the banks as a sign that the US government is in a sort of Lord-of-the-Rings-styled fellowship with them, to rid our nation of this haunting economic evil.

"Shock comes--oh, oh!" says the I Ching of this situation. And though it seems that the abysmal economic conditions we now face are no laughing matter, the I Ching, with its characteristic gadflyness, laughs! "Laughing words--ha, ha! The shock terrifies for a hundred miles," it adds in its judgment of the time.

And then, on a more serious note,

     Thus in fear and trembling
     The superior man sets his life in order
     And examines himself."

Establishing A True Fellowship with the American People

Certainly the Treasury and Feds are already well aware of the dangers and pitfalls of such a bailout. Hopefully, our government - along with Congress - will be that "superior man" of which the oracle speaks, approaching the situation with fastidious gravity and caution as they make their decision.

Hopefully - for all our sakes - our economic and political leaders will examine their plans, motives, fears and strategies with uncompromising thoroughness before tossing $700 billion to those who have already made billions. Hopefully their economic relief package is truly an expression of a fundamental fellowship - not only with our nation's financial institutions - but most importantly, with the American people themselves.

$700 Billion Bailout?

Bracing for the Shock

Establishing A True Fellowship with the American People

Op-Ed informed by the I Ching, Hexagrams #13 and #51

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